Fort of Mount Chaberton, Artillery battery in Névache, France

The Fort of Mount Chaberton is an Italian artillery battery on the summit of Mount Chaberton at 3,130 m, in French territory since 1947. The peak was levelled and cut down about 6 m; along a 12 m rock step below it run two long corridors serving barracks, magazines, an infirmary, a command post and kitchens. On the roof stood eight masonry towers about 7 m high, 6 m apart, each topped by a rotating Armstrong Montagna armoured turret with a 149/35 A. gun and an internal spiral staircase.

Italy's Royal Army built the battery between 1898 and 1910 under Major Luigi Pollari Maglietta of the Engineers, starting with the road from Fenils to the summit. Eight 149/35 A guns in Armstrong Montagna armoured turrets were mounted by 1906. Disarmed in World War I, it bombarded French positions from 17 June 1940; on 21 June French 280 mm mortars destroyed six turrets, killing nine and wounding fifty. The 1947 Paris treaties gave the summit to France.

The fort's name comes from Mount Chaberton, and its eight gun towers stood in a single row 6 m apart, each topped by a turret of the Armstrong Montagna type. The armour, up to 5 cm at the front, was meant only against shell splinters, since no curved-fire weapon of the time could reach the summit. Each gun was served by seven men.

The site is only accessible during the snow-free months and requires mountain equipment and sure-footedness. Visitors can start the climb from the village of Clavière or use the old military road from Fenils.

The fort's eight armoured turrets were supplied by Armstrong and carried only light armour, up to 5 cm at the front, meant to stop shell splinters rather than direct hits. On 21 June 1940 French 280 mm mortars knocked out six of them in a few hours, killing nine men and wounding fifty.